Bonnie flies high on stage for the UK

About Bonnie Tyler

International singing star Bonnie Tyler was born into a musical home in Wales and has been performing since the age of 17. She has had a long and successful career and worked with some of the greatest writers, producers and musicians in popular music.

Today, the United Kingdom had its second stage rehearsal here in Malmö, where Bonnie Tyler ran through her song Believe In Me. She wants to make an impact on Saturday so come and see how she did today.

Backstage Bonnie was in good spirits and the entire UK delegation looked relaxed and calm. Bonnie's band was also rehearsing a little near the in-ear rigging area.

The first, most noticable difference between today's rehearsal and Saturday's is that Bonnie now appears in her full costume, a black number with trousers and a top that flows down to one side. There are also some silver sequins on her left shoulder. Of course, we could describe it further but we recommend looking at some of our photos!

Vocally Bonnie was very good today, encouraged by the waiting press and fans who were in the hall to cheer her on. You could see that every cheer she got helped her as she walked along the catwalk to the podium that lifts up with her on it towards the end of the performance.

The staging itself is very similar to before with warm shades of orange and yellow gently silhouetting onto the rear of the stage. As mentioned above, during the mid part of the song Bonnie leaves her static mic postition and makes her way slowly towards the end of the catwalk.

"Believe in yourself and go for it"

When Bonnie arrived in the press conference room she was met by applause from the press and audience. She was asked about how her rehearsal went to which she replied, "I preferred the first one, but in my experience if something goes wrong in rehearsal it will be alright on the night".

She went on to talk about how the song came into fruition involving a meeting with songwriter Desmond Child and his partner in Nashville and then she was presented with a CD of songs, one of which was Believe In Me. "I fell in love with it immediately", she said.

She also talked about her mother who had been a huge inspiration to her. The phrase that resonates with her in relation to her Eurovision Song Contest song is that you have to "believe in yourself and go for it, as no one else is going to do it for you". Bonnie made a very emotional tribute to her mother during the press conference, to which she had a typically humorous response: "it's ok, I'm not going for the sympathy vote; this isn't X-Factor!".

Finally, she spoke about her participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, which she said "was a huge honour to be able to represent my country". She also said she had had an amazing week but that it was really hard work and, "now I get what it is all about".

She also said that watching the Semi-Final live in the arena last night was "scary" thinking about the quality of all the other entries.

The United Kingdom was drawn to perform in the second half of the Grand Final.